(Temperatures are in Celsius)

Today I visited the jjimjilbang (찜질방 for those of you who read Hangul). The jjimjilbang is the public bathhouse central to Korean culture. After paying and being given my "prison clothes" as my coworker, Mike, called them, I walked onto the shoe platform and took off my shoes. I continued to the locker room and stripped down. I then walked into the main men's room and plopped into the 56 degree bath (to get Fahrenheit, multiply by 2, subtract 10%, and add 32). It clearly was nowhere near that temperature. It wasn't even bathwater temperature, so we moved to the 43 pool. That was quite nice, but a bit much so we relocated again to 39. A perfect temperature. I was finally comfortable enough to have a look around. At the back of the room, the children were playing in the cold pool (which I would estimate was about 17 degrees). There was a dry, Swedish-style sauna and a steam room, which was quite unbearable. The Korean men were almost entirely void of hair, which made me glad not to look like Tony or Stew (gorilla men). The sauna was at 102 degrees and the steam room was at 65. I could only stand the sauna for about 10 minutes, but it was the first time being in a sauna since Sweden, and I truly enjoyed it. I stepped out to enjoy the high-pressure jets in the cold pool. Then I tried the steam room, which rendered me dizzy in a matter of seconds. After a good soak in all of the tubs and rooms, we put on our prison clothes -- which were quite comfortable -- and went into the communal area. The communal area was fairly nice. People were getting full body massages in one corner (not as full bodied as other spots around Incheon). In another corner, people were lying on the heated floors talking and watching the tube. Gazebos dotted the room, filled with young people playing some sort of slapping and clapping game. It felt very exotic, well-designed, and peaceful. I walked past the numerous saunas and igloo rooms to check out the food, which was not so appealing. In the final corner, heated sleeping pods were available. I'm not sure why someone would want to sleep on the third floor of a bathhouse, but a few were occupied. Sporadically throughout the room were massage chairs, which were quite comfortable and relaxing. We gathered in the 67 degree sauna and laid on the heated rocks. A television was playing some sort of reality show where young girls are giggling and trying to get free bus rides. It was easy to tune out and wiggling on the rocks gave the sensation of slowly floating down onto a bed. We went into the igloo room, which I found uneventful and drab, but we did end up back in the 43 degree pool where we started. The entire experience was soothing and... exfoliating.

Afterwards -- and I couldn't have asked for more -- we had a duck feast, served and prepared in the traditional Korean style. Finally, we ended the night with Nostalgia drink -- whatever the hell that is. Are you one of the select few who can differentiate between tired and relaxed?